Archived: Onny Cottage Rest Home

Updated 8 April 2021

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Onny Cottage is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection-

We spoke with two people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two members of staff which included the provider and a senior carer.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment, supervision and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and quality monitoring were reviewed.

Updated 8 April 2021

About the service

Onny Cottage is a care home providing support with personal care needs to a maximum of seven older people. Accommodation is provided in one adapted building. At the time of the inspection, four people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Risks to people’s safety and well-being were not always considered and plans to mitigate risks were either not in place or had not been reviewed.

People were not protected by the provider’s staff recruitment procedures. The provider failed to ensure staff received the required training and support to meet people’s needs safely. People were not protected by the procedures for the safe storage, management and administration of medicines. The management of medicines were unsafe and did not ensure people received their medicines as prescribed.

Infection, prevention and control procedures did not protect people from the risk of infection or contracting avoidable infections.

People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice. The provider had failed to follow the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which meant people were not safeguarded from receiving care and treatment which was not lawful. Staff had not received up to date training about how to safeguard people from the risk of abuse.

The service was not effectively managed and there were no systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided. The provider had failed to act on the breaches of regulations identified at our last inspection. The provider did not always work effectively with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for people.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update. The last rating for this service was requires improvement. (Report published December 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection enough improvement had not been made and the provider was still in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the lack of effective management and communication, infection, prevention and control procedures, staff recruitment and training and care planning. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions we did not look at were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to inadequate. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Onny Cottage Rest Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection. Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within six months to check for significant improvements.

If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions of the registration.

For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it. And it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.